Jefferies, Bloomberg Jump To Fill Drexel's Junk Pricing Shoes

Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. may be a thing of the past, but the high-yield, high-risk bonds that were its bread and butter are still around, and junk bond holders are scrambling to find new pricing sources. Los Angeles-based Jefferies & Co. has moved quickly to fill the price vacuum; the brokerage has hired a team of junk bond traders from Drexel to expand its own high-yield department and to establish an electronic junk bond pricing service.

Jefferies' move into the junk pricing business comes